Marco and I on tour in Norway

Hello hello! It's posting time again!

What I put online now is pictures of another wonderful trip through Southern Norway. And this time with a special person: I had the pleasure to show Marco a little part of this beautiful country. Marco came up here for a few days over the 1st of May. I took this opportunity to organise something special to do with him: not only for doing something different from hanging around in Oslo, but also for celebrating our 7th anniversary in May :-)

Working in the travel business I pulled some strings and thus managed to set up a nice itinerary at realtively - we are still in expensive Norway! - low costs :-)

And this is the outcome:

Oslo - Stavanger - Bergen - Voss/Gudvangen/Flåm/Myrdal ("Norway in a nutshell" tour) - Oslo



Friday 30 April:

The tour starts after work on Friday with the Flytoget (the airport express train) from the city to Oslo Airport Gardermoen.





At 20:10 a Norwegian Airlines flight takes us to Stavanger, Norway's third largest city, commonly also referred to as the Petroleum Capital of Norway.







After arrival at Stavanger Airport Sola we took the shuttle bus downtown where we checked in for our overnight stay at the Clarion Hotel Stavanger...



...located right in the city centre...



... and with a room on the 13th floor...



... with a great view over the city.



Before going to bed we enjoyed a glass of wine at the hotel bar. Hungry as we were Marco was, I guess, a bit disappointed that it was not possible at all to get any kind of snack there when we arrived.



And now, Marco and me, we invite you to travel with us day by day on the next three posts!

North Cape - Eyjafjallajökull - Peter's wedding

This post actually wasn't planned to be here. At this place was supposed to be a post about a super great trip to the North Cape.

In connection to the Norwegian Travel Workshop in Molde, Innovasjon Norge (the national tourist board) organised so-called "pre-tours", an occasion for workshop participants to get to know the tourism product Norway during 4 days. While my colleague Franck went to the workshop, I was registered for going on one of the tours. In a previous stage I signed up for a tour to the Lofoten. Very beautiful and great trip. Since this tour was already full, I changed my choice and decided to do the equally interesting and promissing tour through Finnmark, a roundtrip throught the high north including the North Cape.





Here the description:

Norwegian Lapland – an arctic experience!
Let us inspire you to visit Finnmark, Norwegian Lapland. A destination where the activities are in focus. We will present a variety of possibilities in the northernmost county of Norway.
With Hurtigruten from Tromsø to Berlevåg, we will join some of the land-excursions and will explore both North Cape and visit a Sami family in Kjøllefjord. In Berlevåg, you will learn to understand why so many artists are fascinated by the Northern light (aurora borealis) and in Kirkenes, we will have great fun by visiting the Kirkenes Snow Hotel, go dog sledging and snowmobiling along the Norwegian-Russian border, and last but not least go on a king crab safari and swim in the Barents sea!
Here you will find the perfect setting for your clients’ holiday, whether they are looking for active adventures or seeking peace and quiet, for groups as well as for individuals.
Welcome to Finnmark – Norwegian Lapland!

Sounds great, right?

And guess what!? This tour has been cancelled! And you know why? Does "Eyjafjallajökull" ring a bell? Yes, right: this lovely little whole on Icelandic soil managed to blow up this great tour to the North Cape! There you have that great opportunity of such a trip (sponsored by work) with such activities and some ash from Iceland makes it impossible to fly! *argghhhhhhh*

Well, anyway. Tour cancelled means tour cancelled... but means also: I might be able to attend my uncle Peter's wedding :-)
My uncle's wedding on 24 April was planned long time ago, but I already knew I would go on a tour for work that weekend. So, all the time I told him that I unfortunately wouldn't make it to his wedding and that I would be very sad for that.

But in the end the vulcanic erruption also had it's advantage. Since my tour to the North Cape wouldn't take place, I spontaneously checked flights Oslo - Düsseldorf - Oslo for that weekend. Prices were ok and I booked a flight to Germany for the day after tomorrow.

It was really nice to be home again and even having the possibility to attend my uncle's wedding. It was such a wonderful, sunny and warm weekend... with a nice party!